Harper Poll: Joe Sestak would lead Democrats in run for governor

If former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak ran for the Democratic nod for governor in Pennsylvania today, he would take the lead over his Democratic opponents, according to a poll recently released by a group called Harper Polling.

Sestak, a former U.S. Navy admiral, was congressman of the 7th Congressional District for two terms. After serving in Congress from 2006-2010, he decided to run for U.S. Senate. He won the primary against the late U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., but lost by a slim margin in the general election against U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.

Sestak could not be reached for comment Friday, but previously told the Delaware County Daily Times, a sister paper of The Times Herald, that he was still trying to determine what he wanted to do in his future.

“I want to serve again, and want to do it right,” he said in an email to the Daily Times on Feb. 19.

According to the poll results in the Democratic nomination for governor, Sestak would win about 20 percent of the votes. U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-13, of Montgomery County, would receive 19 percent of the votes and state Treasurer Rob McCord of Montgomery County would receive 7 percent of the votes.

Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox would receive 3 percent of the votes and former Rendell cabinet officials Tom Wolf and John Hanger would each receive about 1 percent of the votes, the Harper Polling website states. About 50 percent of the Democratic voters are undecided, according to the poll.

Harper Polling also looked at the Republican primary. If the Republican primary race were held today, incumbent Republican Gov. Tom Corbett would win about 49 percent of the votes, according to the poll. Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor would win about 21 percent of the votes and 30 percent of the voters are undecided at this time.

The poll was conducted Feb. 27-28. It had a sample size of 622 voters and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.93 percent. The Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary race is about 14 months away.

Attempts to reach a representative from the Republican-leaning Harper Polling group were unsuccessful.